Artist Playlists
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The electric guitar was never the same after Jimi Hendrix got his hands on it, and neither was rock ‘n’ roll. He spent the ‘60s filtering blues, rock and R&B through a kaleidoscopic sensibility, creating something simultaneously sensual and otherworldly. From mind-blowing psychedelic sojourns like “Are You Experienced?” to the almost jazzy balladry and Dylan-esque lyrics of “The Wind Cries Mary”, the range of Hendrix’s gifts remains as dazzling as his searching, soulful spirit and incendiary guitar work. The depth and breadth of his accomplishments belie the tragic brevity of his career. - Some of Jimi Hendrix’s loudest moments can be found on his live recordings. Onstage, the spacey psychedelia crafted in the studio gives way to crushing proto-metal. This approach climaxes on the feedback-drenched version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” unleashed at Woodstock. Hendrix also used concerts as launching pads for experimentation, like the avant-garde funk captured on 1970’s <i>Band of Gypsys</i>, released mere months before his death.
- Their original tunes have been the source material for some of modern music’s biggest hits.
- Hendrix's six-string innovations took root from metal and R&B to punk and even jazz. On “Eruption”, Eddie Van Halen mutates his hero's feedback squalls and swells into screaming flash. Funkadelic's groovy psych blast “Super Stupid” springs from the guitarist's fuzzy acid rock. Venturing way far out is Miles Davis' “Moja, Pt. 1”: mid-'70s fusion that contorts Hendrix-style wah-wah into flailing skronk.